4 ms·

They also spin so regularly that you can build a clock out of their signals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar_clock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar_cloc

They also spin so regularly that you can build a clock out of their signals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar_clock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar_clock

privong 13y ago
Now someone just needs to build an API and and app for the Pebble so there can be a pulsar wristwatch.
MichaelDickens 13y ago
Not only are they regular enough to make clocks, but they're 5 times more accurate than atomic clocks.
- dfc 13y ago
  I am assuming you are repeating the claim on the wikipedia page. Or maybe (hopefully) you have another source? I saw the claim on the wiki article and my first reaction was bullshit. My second reaction after stumbling across dead links in two of the three the citations was bullshit. After re-reading the article and the one functioning citation without seeing a accuracy/precision/stability figure my third reaction was also bullshit. The strontium clock at Boulder loses one second in five billion years. [1][2][3] Does anyone have any information supporting the pulsar clock claim? I have a sneaking suspicion that the author of this claim --just like the catalog in the chair pocket on airplanes--thinks my radio clock that syncs to WWVB/DCF77 is "an atomic clock." [1] http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/22/5333324/nist-atomic-clock-keeps-precise-time-for-5-billion-years http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/22/5333324/nist-atomic-clock-... [2] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12941.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/natu... [3] http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2014/01/22/jila-strontium-atomic-clock-sets-new-records-both-precision-and-stability http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2014/01/22/jila-stront...
  - MichaelDickens 13y ago
    Some atomic clocks are considerably less accurate. I can't find a citation, but IIRC, older cesium atomic clocks are accurate to about 1 second every 300 years.
eksith 13y ago
Don't we already use these as a sort of GPS for interstellar travel? I think the Voyager plaques contained coordinates to Earth based on pulsar frequency.
- hangonhn 13y ago
  I didn't know that. That's fascinating and "beautiful"!

They also spin so regularly that you can build a clock out of their signals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar_clock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar_clock

privong 13y ago

Now someone just needs to build an API and and app for the Pebble so there can be a pulsar wristwatch.

MichaelDickens 13y ago

Not only are they regular enough to make clocks, but they're 5 times more accurate than atomic clocks.

dfc 13y ago
I am assuming you are repeating the claim on the wikipedia page. Or maybe (hopefully) you have another source? I saw the claim on the wiki article and my first reaction was bullshit. My second reaction after stumbling across dead links in two of the three the citations was bullshit. After re-reading the article and the one functioning citation without seeing a accuracy/precision/stability figure my third reaction was also bullshit. The strontium clock at Boulder loses one second in five billion years. [1][2][3] Does anyone have any information supporting the pulsar clock claim? I have a sneaking suspicion that the author of this claim --just like the catalog in the chair pocket on airplanes--thinks my radio clock that syncs to WWVB/DCF77 is "an atomic clock." [1] http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/22/5333324/nist-atomic-clock-keeps-precise-time-for-5-billion-years http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/22/5333324/nist-atomic-clock-... [2] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12941.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/natu... [3] http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2014/01/22/jila-strontium-atomic-clock-sets-new-records-both-precision-and-stability http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2014/01/22/jila-stront...
- MichaelDickens 13y ago
  Some atomic clocks are considerably less accurate. I can't find a citation, but IIRC, older cesium atomic clocks are accurate to about 1 second every 300 years.

eksith 13y ago

Don't we already use these as a sort of GPS for interstellar travel? I think the Voyager plaques contained coordinates to Earth based on pulsar frequency.

hangonhn 13y ago
I didn't know that. That's fascinating and "beautiful"!